


The Joy Of Giving

by Fletcher



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-11
Updated: 2013-06-11
Packaged: 2017-12-14 14:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/837747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fletcher/pseuds/Fletcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin spends his Saturdays working with troubled kids at the Pendragon Trust. Arthur Pendragon is not troubled and certainly not a kid, so why is Merlin suddenly paired up with him? And why is he so excited to be there in the first place?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Joy Of Giving

**Author's Note:**

> The Pendragon Trust is completely fictional and very unrealistic.

“This must be a mistake,” Merlin said disbelievingly.

Morgause didn’t even bother looking up from her paperwork. “I can assure you that the Pendragon Trust doesn’t make mistakes.”

“But I’m paired up with Arthur Pendragon! Last time I checked, he is not a child in need.”

Now she did look up and gave Merlin an icy look. “There is no need to be cheeky, Mr. Emrys. And I can only inform you that Mr. Pendragon is quite a needy young man.”

She made it clear that this discussion was officially over, but Merlin wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

“That’s just it, he’s a man and not getting a new car from his daddy does not make him in need of my help.”

“Mr. Emrys, if you are truly dissatisfied with your assignment then you can of course always refuse.”

“But if I refuse, I’m out of the programme.”

She gave him a triumphant look and replied, “Our actions do tend to have consequences. What is it going to be, Mr. Emrys? I do have other people to assist.”

Merlin realized that it was time to admit defeat and said, “Fine, I’ll help him. I’ll just get to it then.”

“That would be enormously helpful. Have a nice day, Mr. Emrys.”

“You too, Mrs. Smith. Always a pleasure speaking to you.”

He suppressed the need to stick out his tongue when he walked away from her, because he was here to work with children, not act like one.

*

It wasn’t difficult for Merlin to spot his latest protégé. Arthur stuck out like a sore thumb between all the young teenagers in the room. Merlin was relieved that at least he wasn’t wearing an Armani suit. Part of him was still hoping that Mrs. Smith was playing a cruel prank on him, but then again he didn’t think Morgause was capable of smiling. It was best to find out what Arthur Pendragon was playing at and hopefully he would be able to leave the Trust as soon as possible. He wasn’t in the mood to waste an entire afternoon on a spoilt brat.

“Mr. Pendragon, what are you doing here?”

Arthur grinned, “Merlin, I am relieved you were able to find me so easily. Oh, and please call me Arthur.”

Merlin had to admit he was quite good at turning up the charm, but he really wanted an answer this time. “Sure, but you haven’t answered my question. What are you doing in this programme for children in need?”

“Actually, my father suggested this and I thought this was a great opportunity to see one of our most important charities in action. So, I want you to treat me exactly the same as you would any of your other protégés,” he said, clearly excited.

Merlin felt less excited and asked, “Does this mean we are under review? Because I think there should at least be a warning, a surprise attack is not very fair.”

“Relax, I’m not here to review anyone. I am genuinely curious how this country’s brightest students are choosing to spend their Saturdays. I mean most of you do volunteer here for a chance at the Pendragon grant, I know how expensive university is.”

Merlin couldn’t help but roll his eyes and said, “There are eight volunteers and ten grants. We are not here to fight over your grants, I use mine to pay my lunch.”

“Hmm, so if you’re not doing it for the money, that means I’m dealing with a legit Mother Teresa figure here.”

“Thank you for comparing me to a dead nun, always very flattering.”

“Merlin, I really haven’t come here to insult you,” Arthur assured him, his enthusiasm never wavering. “Why don’t we get started, how do you usually start these things?”

Merlin saw no reason to refuse his request and started explaining, “Normally, the first step is that I talk to my troubled youngster and they inform me about their troubled home situation. But I don’t think that will be necessary..”

Arthur interrupted him and said, “Excellent, let me fill you in. I’ll start with the biggest problem in our family, my sister Morgana. Horribly bitchy, I hope for your sake you never meet her.”

“Actually, I do know her. Morgana volunteers here once a month,” Merlin informed him.

“Does she now? Well, that is a surprise, I had no idea she shared some of my charitable nature. I must say, she hides it very well. Then I’ll move on to the next part of my troubled home situation.”

“You mean your father, lovely man isn’t he? He was here only last week, to make sure everything was going well. That’s why I was so surprised when I thought you were here to review us. Since he was joined by your mother, who is the one to normally review us. The Pendragons seem to really care about this charity,” he added.

“Yes, it seems we really do,” Arthur admitted through gritted teeth.

Merlin couldn’t help thinking that made the score officially: Merlin-Arthur, 1-0. He still had no idea what game Arthur was playing here, but Merlin was currently winning it.

Arthur didn’t give up that easily and suggested, “Since you’re so familiar with my home situation, maybe it’s best we move on to the next step.”

“Of course. Usually, after carefully listening to their troubles, I try to help find some solutions, refer to a social worker if needed. But I think in your case we can skip that part as well.”

“Ok, what comes next?” Arthur asked.

“The kids that come here don’t have much opportunity for fun activities. We offer them several activities, small things like going to see a movie or visit an amusement park. What they really need, is for someone to pay a bit of attention to them. Do you think we can skip that as well, I don’t think you lack any attention.”

“Actually, that sounds rather enjoyable,” Arthur said and then used his greatest weapon. “We’re doing this, I wouldn’t want to disappoint Morgause. She seemed pretty set on you working with me.”

“If that’s what Morgause wants, then who am I to argue with her. What do you want do, take a spin with your Porsche?”

“Don’t be silly, Ferrari all the way. I was thinking we could go to the park, I spend way too little time in nature.”

“So let’s be clear, you want to use your father’s charity to find someone to go to the park with you? If you’re that bored, can’t you just call one of your friends. You have enough of them, no need to waste my time.”

“How do you know I have tons of friends?” Arthur asked curiously.

“Oh, please, you’re rich, hot and you have a Ferrari. I’m sure you’ll find some other victim,” Merlin scoffed.

“You think I’m hot?” Arthur smiled.

“That was not my point, the point is that you should leave me alone. If I can’t help someone today, I prefer to use this time to study. I have enough work to do.”

“But you can help someone, me. I realize that I’m not exactly the person you had in mind, but come on you could at least make a little effort. And I promise to leave you alone after this.”

Merlin conceded, “Fine, we’ll go to the park and after that you are officially banned from this place. I don’t want to see your face here again.”

“I don’t think it is really up to you to decide that. But I promise that I will never waste the enormously valuable time of one of the volunteers again. Do we have a deal?” he asked.

“We have a deal,” Merlin agreed.

Arthur jumped up and said, “Great, the basket is in the car, let’s go.”

“Wait, what basket?”

“Duh, for the picnic. You can’t go to the park without having some decent food and more importantly drinks.”

“You really are unbelievable.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, coming from such a tough crowd.”

When Merlin got into a freaking Ferrari, he officially changed the score to 1-1.

Once they arrived at the park, Arthur opened up his trunk and took his much talked about basket. There really was a basket, Merlin didn’t know what to think anymore. He found it hard to believe that Uther Pendragon send his son here to go on a picnic with one of his volunteers. It was far more likely that Arthur just got bored and decided to torture someone for fun. He was such a spoilt brat. Why was Merlin the one who got stuck with him? If it had been Sophia, she would have been over the moon to have a date with Arthur Pendragon. Oh god, they were practically on a date.

“This may sound ridiculous, but this is not a date, right?” he asked hastily.

“Of course not, I know what a professional you are. Don’t worry, I won’t tell my dad you like to go on picnics with your protégés.”

“I thought it was your dad who sent you to the Trust in the first place?”

“He did, but he may have given me slightly different instructions. I just thought it would be nice to bring some fun to one of the volunteers. I can’t imagine it is a lot of fun to listen to a couple of troubled 12-year-olds on your free day.”

“It’s not supposed to be fun, you know,” Merlin pointed out. “We are there to help these kids, it’s really important to them and to us.”

“You don’t need to convince me, Merlin. Just sit down and relax, won’t you? I promise it won’t kill you.” Arthur took out a blanket and neatly covered the ground with it.

“I can’t believe you even brought a blanket with you,” Merlin sighed.

“Do you have any idea what kind of vile creatures live on this ground, I can’t do that to my favourite pants.”

Merlin smirked, “Wow, this really is your first confrontation with nature. Don’t be afraid, most people come out of here alive.”

“Most?”

“There are rumours of a flesh-eating worm,  but there is no need for you to be concerned. Apparently, he doesn’t like blondes.”

“You’re a real riot, Merlin. I’m glad we got paired up, I don’t think that Mordred bloke would have bothered warning me for the flesh-eating worm.”

“You know it is odd that we got paired up, since I was supposed to work with Gwaine today.”

“Ok, small confession, I might have picked you on purpose,” Arthur admitted reluctantly. “Morgause showed me some pictures of the available volunteers and you looked like the friendliest of the lot. If I really was a troubled youngster, I would definitely pick you over Mordred.”

“I’m honoured to be chosen by the great Arthur Pendragon,” Merlin said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“You’re very welcome. You know, we’ve been talking about me this entire time, why don’t you tell me some more about yourself?”

“That’s not really part of the programme, but I guess the rules don’t apply here anyway. I’m a very poor student who lives in a tiny flat with his two best friends and tries not to drown in work. And I guess I do this as well.”

“Hmm, so I suppose you don’t have  a lot of free time,” Arthur concluded.

“None at all, I suppose your life must sound even more exciting right now.”

“Actually, more like the opposite. I think I just had an epiphany because of you. My father was right, I should get more involved in his work. When I take you back to the Trust, I’ll make another visit to Morgause and sign up as a volunteer.”

“Just like that, one picnic with me and you’re willing to sacrifice your Saturday afternoons?”

“You have no idea how persuasive you are, Merlin,” Arthur replied.

“But I wasn’t trying to persuade you to do anything,” Merlin pointed out.

“I know, it’s scary how good you are. It took my father two months to get me here and only a couple of hours with you and I’m willing to sign up. I just can’t resist such a pretty face.”

“Did you just call me pretty?”

“Pretty, smart, generous, I don’t think it’s a coincidence we got paired up.”

“You just told me yourself that you deliberately picked me.”

“I meant that faith brought us together, Merlin Emrys. And you can’t fight your destiny.”

Merlin was starting to understand why Uther wanted his son out of the house. “Trust me, I’m planning on putting on my armour.”

“Since I’m a firm believer in sportsmanlike conduct, I wish you the best of luck. We’ll see next Saturday.”

“You won’t show up, not in a million years.”

Arthur gave him a pitying look and said, “Oh, Merlin, you have no idea how determined the Pendragons can be. It seems like you don’t know my home situation very well after all.”

*

Merlin was surprised when Arthur really did show up the next week. Especially since the training took a week, he must have breezed through it. But Arthur seemed like the type who breezed through life with no troubles.

The most important thing was that the kids really liked him.  He guessed he could understand why. Even though Arthur came from a completely different world than them, he must have felt like a breath of fresh air with his boundless enthusiasm. However, he didn’t skip the first step and he actually talked with his little protégés. He was quite popular with the other volunteers as well. As predicted, Sophia was all over him. When it was time for their monthly volunteer meetup, Arthur was a full-fledged member of their team. He was there for three weeks.

Strangely, Morgana hadn’t been to the Trust since her brother became such a presence. Arthur wasn’t joking about the sibling rivalry between them.

Usually, their meetup took place in a pub but of course Arthur Pendragon had something completely different in mind. He invited them all to a fancy restaurant with Michelin stars and everything. Merlin had no idea who he was trying to impress, they were all poor students, but he didn’t mind either. The food was delicious and it was fun hanging out with the group, even if it included Arthur. In fact, he started liking him more and more. Especially when he took them all out for ice cream. There was just one problem, Arthur kept paying for everything himself.

Merlin decided it was time to confront him and asked, “Arthur, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Of course, Merlin,” he replied brightly. He pointed at Merlin’s hand and said, “I knew you would be a chocolate guy.”

“Yeah, about the ice cream. You do know that we aren’t expecting you to pay for everything. Not that we didn’t love the restaurant, as long it’s a one-time thing. But I think we can afford to pay our own ice cream.”

“Wait, you’re afraid that I’ll think that you want to take advantage of my money? Trust me, that’s the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to treat you all to something nice, now that I’m actually working as a volunteer I understand even more how hard it can be to connect to these kids.”

“It’s not charity when you keep expecting rewards. It’s very nice of you but it’s really not necessary,” Merlin repeated.

“You really think I’m nice?”

It seemed like Arthur’s ears were only able to pick up compliments. “Try to keep your ego under control, please. I don’t think you’re qualifying for sainthood any time soon.”

“Ok, to even things out, why don’t you treat me to pancakes next weekend?” Arthur suggested.

“Why do I have to buy everyone pancakes?”

“Not everyone, just me. You do owe me a picnic after all.”

“Just you and me, eating pancakes together. That sounds suspiciously like a date to me,” Merlin said, raising his eyebrows a little.

“You are always so suspicious, Merlin. Why can’t you just trust me?”

“Pancakes, next Sunday. I’ll text you the details. Do not wear a suit,” Merlin warned him.

“What am I supposed to wear, an overall? I’ll try to dig up some jeans, just for you.”

*

Arthur showed up wearing tight fitting jeans and a white shirt, in other words much like a real-life version of Merlin’s dream guy. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all, there was no place in Merlin’s life for a crush on a guy so out of his league. Chances were that Arthur would get bored with the whole children in need programme and Merlin very soon.

“Hello, dear Merlin,” Arthur said and he gave him a kiss on the cheek. Merlin had meant to go for a polite handshake, so he felt even more awkward. Why was he suddenly so nervous around Arthur, he had no problem telling him off before. It had to be the jeans that set him off balance.

“Hello, Arthur, nice to see you.”

“I’ve been looking forward to eating at this place all week, these are supposed to be the best pancakes in the city,” Arthur informed him with delight.

“Yes, the pancakes are supposed to be delicious. You know, I can’t actually stay that long, I have a very important test tomorrow. Do you mind if we hurry this up a little?”

“Oh,” Arthur said and Merlin thought there was some disappointment in his voice, “of course, I wouldn’t want to keep you from your work. I have some of my own to do as well. But if you don’t have much time today, maybe we could meet up Friday night. I remember you saying that you didn’t have to work Fridays this month.”

“I can’t believe that you remember that,” Merlin said.

“This may come as a surprise to you, but I’m quite a good listener.”

“Ok, Arthur, I’m going to be honest about this because you seem like an honest guy. I’m not interested in dating you.”

“Oh,” he definitely sounded disappointed now.

“It’s not because I don’t like you, because strangely I do. You are quite effortlessly charming in a way. It’s just that we live in such different worlds and when you stop coming to the Trust...”

Arthur interrupted him, “Why would I stop coming?”

“I know that you like spending time there, but do you honestly see yourself still coming there in six months?”

“Of course, I’ve already told you how determined Pendragons are,” Arthur reminded him. He smirked, “Besides, you should have seen the look on my evil sister’s face when my father commended me for giving up my Saturday afternoons for charity. But that’s not the real reason I’m doing it of course, it’s nice to help these kids. I know that charity isn’t meant to be rewarding, but it’s nice to feel useful. I really don’t have as many friends as you think.”

“So you’re not giving up anytime soon then?”

“No, and if I’m being completely honest... I don’t think I ever will as long as you’re there. I may have been trying to impress you a little. Like when you mentioned you hadn’t had a decent meal in ages...”

“You took me to a fancy restaurant with Michelin stars,” Merlin finished. “You know what would have really impressed me? If Gordon Ramsay was there, I seem to have a thing for wealthy know-it-alls.”

“Then I guess I should count myself very lucky,” Arthur said.

“You should, I’m worth more than any Ferrari you’ll drive. So what do you want to do next Friday?”

“Maybe, it’s time for us to follow tradition. Fancy a movie, followed by dinner?”

“That sounds great, but I’ll choose the restaurant,” Merlin decided.

“Does that mean I get to pick the movie?”

“On second thought, you can pick the restaurant, I’ll pick the movie.”

“Gosh, Merlin, what a lack of faith. I can tell I still haven’t completely won you over, but don’t worry I will.

Merlin didn’t think he would have much trouble.

*

A couple of months later, Merlin realized that out of all the Pendragons Arthur was the most easy-going. Family dinners with the Pendragons were certainly eventful with Morgana and Uther and even his mother regularly bickering. But they were also generous and made sure that the Trust had all the extra resources it needed. Morgause actually smiled when she saw her brand new filing system. It was truly an historic event.

Merlin looked at his super hot boyfriend, currently discussing the other charities that could use a new filing system, and mentally listed the many benefits of giving to charity.


End file.
